Share this article

Eurosceptic Denmark goes to the polls on Thursday in a referendum on stepping up its participation in EU police and judicial cooperation, with the outcome uncertain amid fears ranging from jihadist attacks to the migrant crisis.

Held three weeks after the Paris attacks that left 130 people dead, the referendum was originally scheduled to take place in 2016 but was moved up so it wouldn't interfere with the campaign for Britain's EU referendum, due to be held before 2017.

A majority of left- and right-wing parties in the Danish parliament approved the principle of a referendum in December 2014, despite the opposition of the eurosceptic, anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DF).

The party, which emerged as the country's second-biggest in June legislative elections, has held significant sway over Danish politics for more than a dozen years, providing right-wing minority governments with support to pass legislation in parliament in exchange for its tighter immigration policies.

"More EU? No thanks," read DF's campaign posters.

The party claims Denmark risks losing control over its immigration policy, a strong argument for voters worried that Denmark could be forced to accept obligatory EU refugee quotas in the future.

The number of asylum seekers in Denmark has only been about a tenth of those received by neighbouring Sweden so far this year.

The "yes" camp, led by Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen of the right-wing Venstre party as well as the opposition Social Democrats, has meanwhile been accused of scaremongering, with a campaign slogan that reads: "Help the police: vote yes!"

On its website, the Socialist People's Party has published a photo of French President Francois Hollande at the Bataclan theatre in Paris on November 13, after 90 people were killed there.

"The refugee crisis, cross-border terrorism, human trafficking and social dumping are challenges we cannot overcome on our own," it said.

If it wants to remain a part of Europol, it needs to scrap the opt-out.

But doing so does not mean that Denmark has to be part of all EU justice policies.

Rather, the referendum proposes an "a la carte" solution similar to that used by Britain and Ireland.

With a "yes", the Scandinavian country would "opt in" to Europol participation and 22 legal acts covering subjects like European cybercrime, human trafficking, child pornography and fraud.

The complexity of EU justice policies means almost two-thirds of Danes were unable to explain the vote in a poll published on November 3rd, and daily Politiken recently described it as "a referendum that makes the voters' eyes glaze over."

Asked about Europol, one undecided voter answered: "What's that again?"

Share this article

From our sponsors

Ranked among the world's best young universities in the QS Top 50 Under 50, Linköping University (LiU) uses innovative learning techniques that prepare its students to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.